Salvation, At A Cost.

Salvation, at a cost.

Hot take

Night furies are actually perfectly evolved for hunting and killing other dragons and the only reason they aren't a dragon-hunting species like the death song or deathgrippers are is because DreamWorks couldn't have their adorable main character dragon be a "cannibal"

(below I'm gonna try to summarize what we've figured out in a convo with friends on discord)

(also tw animal death via predator)

First of all yes I'm aware that pretty much every decision made about their design was with consideration of the effect it would make on human audiences but hear me out

Night furies are most iconically known as dive-bombers. They are built for speed, high maneuverability, night-time camouflage and for striking targets from above. If we remove human settlements out of the equation (which would not have existed long enough to actually influence night fury evolution, come on), what does that leave us with?

They aren't built for catching fish for sure, they aren't very hydrodynamic and their head is round, wide, and their teeth are dull. Honestly, the monstrous nightmare is much better suited for catching fish, with its long neck, almost pelican-like jaw and rhamphorhynchus teeth

Compare to

Yeah the jaws look kinda like a porpoise of some sort but for that the whole body would have to be a lot more aquatic imo. The light fury looks a lot closer to an aquatic diver, it has a sleeker body, rounded fins instead of spikes, and a long neck.

I don't really see them hunting land animals either, they just don't look like they're adapted for that minus the resemblance with large felines and even then, they're too large to effectively hunt in forests.

The one thing I can kinda imagine them hunting is large mainland megafauna, but we're working with a setting that takes place pretty much exclusively on islands. And overall, dragons are the only abundant species there with the exception of fish and human-bred sheep and chickens.

In general, night furies have duller teeth, smaller claws and are smaller than most dragons. Disregarding the movies making Toothless weirdly OP, a night fury would be disadvantaged against most dragons in a 1v1 fight and besides, it has four huge weak spots that would highly discourage it from a direct physical fight - the primary and secondary tail fins. One unlucky rip in the membrane and the night fury is fucked.

The night fury however noticeably resembles falcons, given their dive-bombing ability and high maneuverability.

Falcons too have smaller beaks and weaker claws compared to most birds of prey, and for that they compensate by simply picking up speed, balling up their talons and Punching. Really. Hard.

And they use that ability to kill other birds, even much larger ones, by knocking them right from the sky.

Here, the night fury's plasma blast works the same way as a falcon's punch. Dragons are fire-resistant, so what the plasma blast does is really just a densely packed bolt of energy that has the effect of either stunning or outright killing prey by damaging its spine. And what the plasma bolt doesn't do, rapid contact with the ground would finish. And if even that doesn't do it, the night fury's wide jaws and dull teeth are just fine for simply clamping around the unlucky dragon's neck and strangling it, like a lion or a pitbull.

The night-time camouflage allows the night fury to soar for extended periods of time perfectly unnoticed in the night sky, and by the time it strikes, the dragon wouldn't even know what's coming.

Unless

Say the hunting night fury is aware of other dragons sleeping under the trees, as most dragons probably would at night (village raids aside, most dragons seem to be diurnal), so how does the night fury get them in position where it can use its signature attack? Well, there's That Iconic Screech Of Death. Since in the movies it tends to appear not just during dive-bombings but also when charging up a blast, I imagine it's something the night fury is able to control to some degree. So by simply fake-diving in close proximity to sleeping dragons, it can effectively terrify them into leaving their hideout and fly out into the open where it can easily take them out.

I dunno, the possibility of night furies as predators to other dragons just makes so much sense to me, I really don't know what other reasons there would be for them to evolve these particular adaptations.

And one more little headcanon to add to this whole rant - since night furies are significantly smaller and less equipped for dragon vs dragon fights and are primarily speed-based predators, I imagine there is this very likely scenario:

There is one dragon who resembles a hyena, a lil bit

Ok, rant over

I knew you'd get me

Should i get angel fangs while having braces?? I've been wanting them for so long but some people say it'll be too much metal in my mouth

It's so funny being a shipper when you're aroace it's like you're an anthropologist, like hey fictional blorbos who live in my head let me study your bonds under a microscope and take notes on what happens when I throw Valentines Day into your enclosure

so i have this document where i work on ways to make UA focused solely towards making heroes and nothing else, so i cut out all the actual school stuff and make it just basically a school that trains kids to be heroes.

This is gonna be a long post so read on if your interested.

idk what to call this so im calling it a AU i guess. In this AU UA works with hands on training, they work by do instead of showing cause UA believes the students progress faster in field work.

First let's tackle the sports festival first - that was a publicity stunt especially with the whole stadium setting this really screws UA students over when they take their license exam + everyone got to see them including villains who tune in and probably will remember these students and quirks for future reference. Lets make U.A.'s Sports Festival more meaningful and focused on training and growth, rather than just an entertainment spectacle.

Lets call it the Hero Evaluation and this is the Proving Grounds – A place for students to prove their skills, resilience, and readiness for the hero world.

Now lets talk about what exactly the Hero Evaluation (Sports festival) is supposed to teach the kids lets not have it broadcasted cause that makes them look like their only in it for publicity - lets emphasize aspects of what it's supposed to teach the students shift the focus away from publicity and entertainment reinforce it as a vital part of their development.

I'm repurposing the sports festival as a private event soley for UA's staff & Pro Heroes to evaluate students - no longer a public event taking the place of the olympics for people to enjoy.

-Remove the public broadcast element entirely, make it a closed event for U.A. staff and Hero agencies, focusing purely on the students development and growth, pushing the students to exceed their limits in a controlled environment.

-rank the students on how they do but instead of rankings of flashy demonstrations, the focus would be on how much the students learn, how they improve, and what they take away from the experience.

-Include more team-based events, force them to think, maybe work together but don’t tell them outright. These challenges would focus on strategy, cooperation, and quirk synergy, work with others to solve complex problems if they can't do it alone but don't tell them any of this maybe? just hint it at them cause if their instructors told them everything how would they learn? every instructor is different and UA lets it's teachers teach the students however they see fit no doubt every classes teacher would be supervising their own classes.

Exposure to Real Consequences of Battle

- teach students about the potential consequences of failure or poor decision-making in battle. have a simulated "rescue operation" to force them to make quick decisions where lives are semi at stake. This would underscore the importance of thinking carefully under pressure and how mistakes can have dire consequences. Rather than it being purely about competition, these types of exercises can teach them the gravity of things.

-Rather than pure combat, some stages of the exercise could be structured like actual hero missions, where students are given objectives such as rescuing civilians, defeating villains, or neutralizing threats. These missions would teach the students how to apply their skills in the real world. Of course a first year isn't going to go about this the right way on the first time but this will help evaluate where they are for the staff, teachers and pro heroes.

-also have a focus on problem-solving, quirk control, and resourcefulness in the field.

Personalized Feedback from Pro Heroes

-After each event, students could receive direct feedback from Pro Heroes attending, who would act more like judges. The purpose would be to help them reflect on their performance, learn from their mistakes, and grow as heroes.

-Heroes could take a more active role in the students development during the event, offering training tips and personalized guidance based on their performance if they desire to.

-Maybe have a couple of high ranking heroes and their teachers (like Aizawa) watch them to make sure the kids don't accidentally k!ll each other or themselves. And the pros watch to rank them see which one's they think are successful enough to take on when they graduate.

Safety Protocols

Pro Heroes and Teachers like Aizawa, Midnight, and others would actively monitor the students during the event to prevent accidents or life-threatening injuries. Students must still push their limits, but with safety nets of sort in place. They have the authority to intervene in extreme situations like a student seriously injuring another one (about to on purpose or on accident) This highlight responsible.

Evaluation by High-Ranking Pro Heroes

i said throughout the event have some pro heroes attending or specially invited - top Pro Heroes like Endeavor, Hawks, and others would be present if they want to be there to see the students so they can pick out the ones they might like, not only as spectators but as evaluators. They would watch closely to assess the students potential, growth, creativity, and ability to handle real-life hero duties.

-Some pros are invited some can just attend if they want to but there has to be some kind of max number of pros visiting at a time.

-these heroes would evaluate which students have the best skill sets, strategic thinking, emotional maturity whatever they are looking for to use on the field. The evaluations could determine which students they might want to take on as interns or future sidekicks when they graduate. Heroes would be judging the students not just on their combat abilities but on their overall potential in this profession.

They would look at factors like:

Quirk mastery: How well do students understand and control their quirks, can they do it under stress?

Teamwork: How well do they work with others when the situation demands cooperation?

Strategic thinking: Do they adapt to challenges and opponents, or rely solely on brute strength?

Hero ethics and responsibility: Do they prioritize saving lives and minimizing damage, or are they reckless?

I think it would be good for other students who aren’t participating to watch with the pros. The emphasis should be on preparing students for real-world hero work.

Graduation and skill based advancement

-Based on their performance during the event, students could be offered future internships or pathways to early graduation (3rd years only for early graduation) with specific heroes. Heroes would essentially scout the students they see as ready for professional work after graduation, offering them chances to prove themselves further. This replaces the public spectacle of hero agencies scouting students based on showy performance. Instead, Pros who witnessed their growth firsthand would provide opportunities for internships, mentorship, or even sidekick roles.

Long-Term Tracking and Progression

-The event could be part of a longer-term evaluation where students are tracked over multiple years. Pro Heroes might continue to check in on students they are interested in, watching their progression from year to year and offering more advanced challenges as they grow.

Alright i think im done talking about the rewritten sports festival lets talk about UA as a whole. rewriting the UA school system to be focused soley on teaching students to be heroes.

i kinda wanna leave the support course in cause i like it but i would take the business course out and make that a completely different school nothing against it just feel like this could be a whole school all on it's own.

Rewriting UA

lots of field tests and sparring matches, im taking the entire normal school stuff out and making it only teaching them what they need to know. - if you wanted to learn about normal school subjects you should have went to a normal school we don't teach english and stuff like that cause theres no reason for you to be learning art and stuff like that maybe keep math to some degree and learning a new language cause these are important

-They can still be taught things in the classroom and tested on things that could happen and things they actually need to know.

Their teachers could give them test or task based on their strengths and weaknesses, give them targeted advice on how to improve their quirks, combat abilities, strategies ect.

-Incorporate real world missions for the students, not just training exercises or simulations. could range from low-stakes task (bodyguarding, retrieving items, or recon, - cause they are probably gonna be doing a lot of recon) to more serious ones as they advance. One teacher or a 3rd year are gonna be present to make sure everything turns out right.

-Focus on tactical and strategic learning. There could be a heavier focus on strategic thinking and tactical combat. Instructors could teach students how to analyze their opponents' quirks, adapt strategies on the fly, and make the most of their surroundings. This could be done through exercises that are designed to test their ability to outthink their enemies, teach them to outmaneuver and strategize during battle. HENCE I SAY AGAIN sparing matches good

-I said field tests are a thing so frequent field tests (almost daily)

-students spar against one another in controlled and uncontrolled environments depending on the area. Sometimes their teacher or a 3rd year or two 2nd years could watch or they could be instructed to do their training alone.

-Have classes that reinforce teamwork, battle strategy, problem-solving then they have to go on out in the real world and see how what they learned works on almost a daily basis

Rank the task, like rank S-A-B? students starting at lower-risk task gradually taking on more dangerous tasks as they develop.

-on some of the first few days of going to this school have it scaled in difficulty from - low stakes things to high-stakes things like:

Low-stakes task - recon, bodyguard duties, item retrieval.

High-stakes task - hostage rescue, villain apprehension.

-have task rankings by difficulty (like SS, S, A, B, etc sonic scoreboard type thing lol) students starting on lower-risks and gradually advancing as they develop their skills.

Skill-based advancement where students progress to the next level of training only when they've demonstrated mastery of specific skills, similar to earning belts in martial arts having evaluation milestones.

Evaluation Milestones -UA could implement some kind of milestone tests, assessing quirk mastery, teamwork, strategic decision making ect before allowing students to take on more dangerous task or graduate to the next training level.

Mentorship by Senior Students (3rd-Year Leads)

This is why i keep saying a 3rd year is present.

I have no idea if it's that UA doesn’t have a lot of teachers (or it does and we've only seen a handful of them) so why not have 3rd years in charge of first year and 2nd years? a mixed group of them all.

-small teams led by 3rd-year students. Each team consists of - One 3rd-year mentor who leads a group - One 2nd-year student and Two 1st-year students this teaches them leadership/team management while teaching younger students stuff too.

-Teachers monitor these teams, intervening if necessary and providing guidance when they see fit but otherwise letting the 3rd year lead them so they can learn skills like managing a hero team which leads to what pro heroes have to deal with while managing an agency.

-The 3rd years can get advice from their teachers but ultimately it's up to them on how to lead their group, i don't know if this is something they can decline because if they wanna be a pro they'll have to learn about managing groups.

Reblog this if it’s okay to DM you and shoot the friendship shot.